PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25)
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Prayer for the Morning
Let us praise God with all our hearts!
Glory to the Father…. Alleluia!
HYMN
Thou, Lord of life, our saving health,
Who makes thy suff’ring ones our care,
Our gifts are still our truest wealth,
To serve thee our sincerest prayer.
As on the river’s rising tide
Flow strength and coolness from the sea,
So through the ways our hands provide
May quick’ning life flow in from thee,
To heal the wound, to still the pain,
And strength to failing pulses bring,
Till the lame feet shall leap again,
And the parched lips with gladness sing.
Bless thou the gifts our hands have brought:
Bless thou the work our hearts have planned:
Ours is the hope, the will, the thought;
The rest, O God, is in thy hand.
PSALM 9:2-3, 6-15
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. (Ex 22:22)
As God has protected and delivered us from misfortune, whether small or great, so must we do for others, especially for those made vulnerable by poverty or social isolation. The commandment of love makes concrete demands.
I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will recount all your wonders.
I will rejoice in you and be glad,
and sing psalms to your name, O Most High.
You have checked the nations, destroyed the wicked;
you have wiped out their name for ever and ever.
The foe is destroyed, eternally ruined.
You uprooted their cities; their memory has perished.
But the Lord sits enthroned for ever.
He has set up his throne for judgment;
he will judge the world with justice,
he will judge the peoples with his truth.
For the oppressed let the Lord be a stronghold,
a stronghold in times of distress.
Those who know your name will trust you:
you will never forsake those who seek you.
Sing psalms to the Lord who dwells in Zion.
Proclaim his mighty works among the peoples;
for the Avenger of blood has remembered them,
has not forgotten the cry of the poor.
Have pity on me, Lord, see my sufferings,
you who save me from the gates of death;
that I may recount all your praise
at the gates of the city of Zion
and rejoice in your saving help.
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Ephesians 2:11-13)
Therefore, remember that at one time you, Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by those called the circumcision, which is done in the flesh by human hands, were at that time without Christ, alienated from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.
So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God. (Eph 2:19)
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor/ will himself also call and not be heard. (Prv 21:13)
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet
of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory to the Father…
INTERCESSIONS
As we have been loved, so must we love. Aware of the poverty of our love, let us pray:
R/Have pity on us, Lord!
When we lend and borrow in order to live,
– let us pursue the justice of your Kingdom: R/
When we are asked to make homes for aliens and for the poor,
– let us remember the hospitality you have shown to us in your household: R/
When we meet others in greater need than our own,
– let us be mirrors of your compassion: R/
(Personal intentions)
Our Father….
God of mercy, you made us in your image. May we learn to treat one another as you have treated us in Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unithy of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
